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| Richard Blumenthal |
Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, who is probing the merger of Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf with the PGA Tour, wants to know what role Teneo played in the transaction.
In his Aug. 16 letter to Teneo CEO Paul Keary, Blumenthal demands a “detailed list” of engagements between Teneo and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the names of staffers who worked with the PIF.
The Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found that Stephen Cohen, Teneo’s senior managing director, participated in meetings on June 5-6 prior to the announcement of the planned agreement between the PGA Tour and PIF to form a new corporate entity in professional golf.
Prior to joining Teneo, Cohen was a VP at Goldman Sachs and worked with the PR team that helped it emerge from the global financial meltdown. He also was senior VP in Citigroup’s corporate affairs department and a reporter for Bloomberg.
Blumenthal also wants any Teneo documents concerning PIF’s future role in other US sports.
The Democrat also sent letters to the heads of McKinsey & Co., M. Klein & Co. and Boston Consulting Group.
FGS Global has updated its public diplomacy and communications contract with the embassy of the United Arab Emirates, showing $5.6M in fees through 2006.
Impact Management Group, which is headed by Republican operative Terry Benham, works to build US support for Ukraine.
Rational 360 has ironed out its six-month $1.2M contract with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to position it as a “sophisticated global investment fund.”
APCO has signed on to promote this month’s visit of Ahmed Al Khateeb, head of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Tourism, to the US.
The Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Tourism has signed on Montieth & Co. for strategic communications and media relations duties as chaos grips neighboring Haiti.
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Aug. 23, 2023, by Joe Honick
Missing from all the commentary about the Saudis and the PGA is any recognition of the reality American PR firms and just about those from everywhere else are quite happy to take their money and sell whatever they want sold. Additional problem is that both Democrats and Republicans for generations have known how cheaply those folks in Ryadh consider life and have paid off terrorists to keep the peace there, as Hillary exposed and took a lot of grief for doing so without any backup from Obama. So, while we read outstanding articles right here about "principal and ethics", we are really right back when we knew American ad and PR firms were doing talented work for Russia long before Putin and may still be doing so. Ironically, the representation for whatever the Saudis do is among our most bipartisan activities. Too bad such cooperation cannot seem to occur where it's really needed.